Jumping Ship

To those who have decided to move to greener pastures. We should all wish them well and feel pride that they were selected. Just to show that others recognize a good officer as well. WCSO is a great department, but who can blame those who can go to other departments and receive better pay. Kudos!
It seems others are blaming the wrong people our people leaving. The current administration, higher ups, or if you wish to be insulting the (non-exsistent)" inner circle" others blather on about, are not at fault for the unequal pay that lures our officers to greener pastures $$$$$$. Face it, some also just want to try something new, and get a fuller resume. Don't put words in others mouths and try to read their minds.
Look to another area of our local government for that blame. Our county commissioners need to be aware of these inequalities in our pay and that an important investment is being squandered by this trend of losing officers . They control the purse strings. Convince them to apply a progressive approach for our growing county. Be a part of that movement instead of writing virulent and hurtful ramblings here that doesn't accomplish anything. Our department loses money when we pay for an officer to go to the academy for post certification, train them, and lose them to those who offer more money. They actually don't get the fact that we are losing a valuable investment in our future.
For years, our county government has not kept up with the pay raises to their employees [teachers not withstanding] and sometimes county employees were even denied them. Teachers, please do take this the wrong way. You deserve every dime you get, but yours have progressed faster than most and correct me if I am wrong, but the state also has a part in your salaries so they stay competitive that is not afforded to the rest of us. You have an important job in the education of our children's future development. This was made apparent by the news story on TV about teacher's wages in this area and the misconception of what the average teacher makes. People would be appalled by the wages those of us who strap on a gun and badge and have to take our chances that just an ordinary traffic stop, service of a paper, or just driving down the road could be our last.
Under the previous admin. our comissioners also decided to eliminte the yearly step raise that has hurt deeply with the overall pay to all officers at WCSO. There is no way to ever make that inequality up when those counties and departments are offering more. We have a very dangerous, volatile, and most of the time unrewarding and thankless job, but those of us who do it love it and know that we make a difference in the area where we live and our children grow up. Now we just need to make those in charge of the purse strings appreciate that fact.
However: I wish to also applaud those who are dedicated to being comitted to this county and for those are the ones who are in it for the long haul and wish to see this department thrive and grow.
Please, if you are leaving then take what you learned here, remember that most of you were given a chance and the education that others would not give and let the department you work for see what good officers we produce at WCSO and be safe. Whatever you do and wherever you go you will always have been a WCSO officer.. Make us PROUD!

That was a very pleasant way to say what you had to say without really saying it. Politics may be in your future.

FACT--- pay raises will not come to you,,,, you must go get them.

FACT--- if you have not noticed, your comissioners will not spend money on anything that doesnt personaly benefit them unless it is an emergency and then they over react,,, If they really wanted to be comissioners for the county and not serve their own personal interests then they would plan properly and these emergencies would not happen. Want proof? look around you, the population did not grow overnight and they know that. They also know EXACTLY how fast that is happening. Don't forget that all buildings must have permits and the permits come from the county. Do we even employ a county planner??????

FACT--- if you think the comissioners are going to think on their own to give you a raise, you are wrong, no matter how many deputy sheriffs are on the comission. This, by the way is a HUGE conflict of interest and illegal in most states because it creates corruption.

Bottom Line. If you or we expect a raise then you or we need to open your mouth and demand a raise. I almost forgot, we are not allowed to open our mouths or we get pushed out.

We need an admin that cares about us as much as they care about themselves and we seriously need updates in our laws which actually allow sheriffs employees to have our own opinions.

You want a raise? You want to be a professional and be treated like one?you need to go somewhere else where professionals run the departments and the governing body, not good ole boys .

OR,,, figure out how to change your own local government.

I have a novel idea!

If you cannot get the county commission to vote raises into the pockets of the Wash. Co. Deputies, now hold on to your fedora because I just might be too fast for you, are you ready, huh, are you ready?

Now read this very slowly so that it sinks in.............just put the money into the Sheriff's budget for dept. raises,--- when the budget is proposed ............are you with me mental pygmies --don't want to go too fast for you ..........and voila....there it will be when it's time for a raise to be implemented to all of the deputies. And an even MORE novel approach is for the dept. to NOT turn money back into the county from revenue earned from housing state inmates in the jail and earmark this to assist in implementing raises.

You guys could take an economics class every now and then, it's all too easy to blame everything on the ne'er do wells at the county commission.
And before you retort that this is an impossible task, consider that the county commissioners do not care what the money goes for, they just look at the bottom line. This is so easy a monkey could do it.

I have a novel idea!

If you cannot get the county commission to vote raises into the pockets of the Wash. Co. Deputies, now hold on to your fedora because I just might be too fast for you, are you ready, huh, are you ready?

Now read this very slowly so that it sinks in.............just put the money into the Sheriff's budget for dept. raises,--- when the budget is proposed ............are you with me mental pygmies --don't want to go too fast for you ..........and voila....there it will be when it's time for a raise to be implemented to all of the deputies. And an even MORE novel approach is for the dept. to NOT turn money back into the county from revenue earned from housing state inmates in the jail and earmark this to assist in implementing raises.


You guys could take an economics class every now and then, it's all too easy to blame everything on the ne'er do wells at the county commission.
And before you retort that this is an impossible task, consider that the county commissioners do not care what the money goes for, they just look at the bottom line. This is so easy a monkey could do it.

Apparently Fred you do not know what line items are. Are you with me, now this may be too much for you to comprehend, the commissioners will actually SEE the increased pay for our deputies and they will say: " You need to cut your budget". They do look at the bottom line and all the lines in between, because they do not want to give out ANY money they don't have to. Are you still with me? If you have money left from the detention center you CAN NOT just MOOOvvvveeee it around to where ever you want to because it is in the DETENTION CENTER line item. Stay with me here Fred. They micromanage our budget. Did you understand that, let me repeat it so if you didn't hear it, THE COUNTY COMMISSIONERS MICROMANAGE OUR BUDGET. Maybe you can grasp it now. The Sheriff would not turn in money he COULD use to give us raises with.

You hit the nail on the head Dirty Sanchez. Loved the post!

Did you pay close attention Fred? Did you read it slow enough? If you didn't here it is again. You may need to ask someone to interpret it for you.
ops: ops:

Apparently Fred you do not know what line items are. Are you with me, now this may be too much for you to comprehend, the commissioners will actually SEE the increased pay for our deputies and they will say: " You need to cut your budget". They do look at the bottom line and all the lines in between, because they do not want to give out ANY money they don't have to. Are you still with me? If you have money left from the detention center you CAN NOT just MOOOvvvveeee it around to where ever you want to because it is in the DETENTION CENTER line item. Stay with me here Fred. They micromanage our budget. Did you understand that, let me repeat it so if you didn't hear it, THE COUNTY COMMISSIONERS MICROMANAGE OUR BUDGET. Maybe you can grasp it now. The Sheriff would not turn in money he COULD use to give us raises with

Get a police union. If the majority of the employees vote to have one, then the politicians can play their games but they will ultimately have to give in. Look in Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office...A career deputy (16 yrs) can make over 80, 000. You should see their union contract and use their up-hill battles to your advantage at your agency. Go union...

Dear Dirty,

You obviously keep talking more and more out of your posterior orafice and show us all that you do not know what you are talking about. The county commisioners do not care where the money goes, all they really care about is the bottom line. If you want to verify, why not just go to a county commisioner and ask them if this is so, I did--that's why I know the facts and you do not. As for your conjecture about the Detention Center--I agree there are line item issues but any construction or capital improvement is under a different sort of scrutiny and really does not qualify in the same area as the original budget toward the running of the Sheriff's department. If your argument is true, then I suppose that if there are cost overruns on the construction of the new jail then we wont have money there to run a patrol shift or two for a few months until the new physcal year is started. Just go talk to a commisioner and stop grandstanding about something that you know nothing about. A little knowledge might be refreshing for you. Perhaps if you ever had a job outside of law enforcement, you could understand simple economics.

Let's all run out talk to the county comissioners on economics and budgets!! They are doing so well with our tax money...NOT! I would just as soon as ask..........Oh maybe,YOU Muggs :roll: . Please, if you know so much, at least learn how to spell fiscal.